What I Liked

I love the way the story is told through the eyes of a survivor, Maya, through flashbacks. Both her personal story and her time with the Gardener are emotionally charged. The other characters are developed well, and I could keep track of each thanks to their individual personalities. The plot is full of tension and suspense, but also clarifies how the daily lives of the captives can be tedious even when full of anxiety.

What I Wanted More Of

I had to work hard to push aside all the questions that came to mind as I read. How could this huge structure exist and no one question it? How could they order food and supplies for more than twenty women in captivity for years and years and not set off red flags? Twenty women between the ages of 16-21 are continually held in captivity for close to thirty years. How could this man kill and replenish the woman without ever getting caught? Insight into the killer and how he and his butterfly garden came to be would have made the story more plausible.

What I Didn’t Like

While I don’t want to give away any spoilers, I didn’t enjoy the connection between a secondary character and the Gardener at the end. It seemed, again, too implausible.

Despite these few flaws, the book deserves 5 out of 5 stars. It kept me reading from page one to the end.